Thanks for another update, Rare! As always I like to start my feedback with my gratitude to Rare for all of the work that goes into Sea of Thieves.
Blackpowder Stashes is nice. It's an improvement upon the previous Mercenary Voyages which I found to be mundane after they were in the game for around 2 months straight prior to Anniversary. I do also love the spirit behind Reaper Runs, in that they promote more crew to crew interaction. Doing this with gunpowder barrels looks like it will make things interesting
But this still doesn't fill the void. I still miss the traditional Bilge Rat events. So why are the Bilge Rat Adventures better than Mercenary Voyages?
I've looked at the commendations, rewards, and voyages available here. Here's how I feel about this so far.
1. The Commendations Were Better With Old Bilge Rat Adventures
Traditional Bilge Rat Adventures offered more task specifc commendations that were a lot more fun to pursue for 2-3 weeks... I think back to the gunpowder skeleton event from last June, and I remember commendations designed around chain reactions and getting chain reactions while another crew was at the fort. Things like that are more fun than "complete this voyage 5 times"
2. The Cosmetics Were Better
The earnable time-limited cosmetics used to be SO much better. The Bonecrusher Hat and Jacket for one event, and full set of dope looking Bonecrusher weapons for another event, then we got that Wailing Barnacle Jacket and Hat combo for another event, the list goes on. These were things we could actually put on our individual pirates, and not just the ship. We want more of that.
Nowadays, we're seeing three different iterations of the same Reaper sails and the dripfeeding of the Mercenary Ship set. The Cosmetics have been more lackluster and not nearly as unique as the stuff we used to get.
I feel like there needs to be more energy and passion put into the time limited cosmetic rewards (and cosmetics in the whole game in general) Why has the intensity let up on this? Sea of Thieves progression is entirely cosmetic...
3. Voyages Have Been In the Game Forever, Why Make Events Based on Them?
The old Bilge Rat events were always based on introducing a new mechanic or activity into the game, and that's what made them so much more fun to play. I mean, you simply handed the skeletons gunpowder barrels and made an enitre event out of it that was super fun. Why not do more of that?
I do like these Reaper Runs for the player interactions they create, but there needs to be more intriguing concepts to these events. I feel like voyages are pretty simple to set parameters for, so why not release these Mercenary Voyages alongside the Bilge Rat events we know and love?
In Conclusion
Time after time, so many of us speak up about wanting the old Bilge Rat events back, and time after time, that feedback is met by Rare with "Oh if you miss Bilge Rat stuff, you're gonna be happy with this next update!" and then it's just another Mercenary Voyage... nothing that really strikes us as new.
Thank you for all you do Rare, but what we want you to understand is that it's the traditional old Bilge Rat events we miss, like Gunpowder Skeletons and The Sunken Curse, and Mercenary Voyages alone just cannot live up to what those were.
When Rare says "A regular rhythm of updates," I really hope they're not saying *a regular rhythm of Mercenary Voyages..." Don't get me wrong, Reaper Runs have been fun and I don't doubt that Blackpowder Stashes will still be a fun event. But I think we're still missing that charm and new-ness of the Bilge Rat Adventures.
